Chapter 94: Star

The next day, newspapers began to publish scathing articles about Woo Kwang.

When the Wookwang Chemical fire broke out, the media was quick to gloss over Wookwang.

Now, everyone started criticizing without any hesitation.

< How long will Woo Kwang turn a blind eye to the cries of the Woo Kwang Chemical victims!>

< Did you ever intend to keep your promise to take responsibility and determine the cause of the fire at Wookwang Chemical?>

< Who ordered the arson of Woo Kwang Chemical? Why is Chairman Kim Woo Kwang silent>

I slapped my knee.

“Yeah, it should have been like this from the beginning! How many casualties were there?”

Wookwang Chemical fire accident: 56 dead, 142 injured.

Precious lives were lost and injuries were incurred.

‘Secretary Kim did a great job of distributing the threatening letter!’

I asked Secretary Kim.

Using the Wookwang Construction bribery ledger, he asked for the return of anonymous threatening letters.

High-ranking officials, politicians, and even journalists would have received letters with similar content.

< Choose. Will you join hands with Woo-kwang and sink together, or will you cut ties with Woo-kwang and shake off the shame?>

< If you are willing to share life and death with Woo-kwang, I will also reveal this list.>

Secretary Kim looked very satisfied as he read the threatening letter I wrote.

‘If there had been no threatening letter, the media would not have fired off a barrage of attacks.’

another.

This was followed by breaking news that the Blue House had ordered an investigation into the truth.

‘There is no doubt that high-ranking officials and politicians secretly tipped off the Blue House.’

It wasn’t just newspapers.

News broadcasts also poured out crude criticism toward Woo Kwang.

– This is in front of Chairman Kim Woo-kwang’s residence! Chairman Kim Woo-kwang has been out of the house since last night and has not responded to any interviews!

-I contacted Hyunmu Chemical directly! I was able to secure testimony that a large amount of flammable materials were delivered to the Wookwang Chemical plant!

-See you later on the nine o’clock news for more details!

News cameras showed the scene of the U-Kwang union protest.

In front of the headquarters of Wookwang Group, they wore union vests and held up picket signs that read, “Wookwang started the fire!”, “Wookwang family is dead!”, and “Compensate for the damage!”, chanting loudly.

“Woo-kwang killed the Woo-kwang family!”

“Killed him! Killed him!”

“The death benefit is 300,000 won! I worked like a dog and died like a dog, but I didn’t even get paid for it!”

“I didn’t get it! I didn’t get it!”

“People got hurt in the fire that Woo-kwang started! They didn’t even pay me my wages because I couldn’t work at the factory!”

“He didn’t give it to me! He didn’t give it to me!”

“We are people, not dogs! Guarantee labor rights!”

“Guarantee it! Guarantee it!”

Woo Kwang Group’s bodyguards formed a human barricade to fight back.

Police and paramilitary forces stood frozen, holding shields.

Opposition lawmakers wearing red bands around their foreheads joined the protest and quickly put their faces in front of the camera microphones.

“Chairman Kim Woo-kwang, come out! Come out and explain yourself!”

“People died and were injured unjustly in the fire you started! Compensate them for the damages!”

“This is not a labor movement! This is a cry about human rights and crime!”

Opposition politicians shouted and swore in order to get one more word out in front of the cameras.

“Why did you stage such a show? How many innocent people have died? I feel so miserable!”

“It is time for all of us, government and citizens, to join forces to ensure that such a terrible tragedy never happens again!”

Click. Click. Click.

[Ah! Why are you changing the channel? It’s almost time for the daily soap opera!]

‘I’m curious to see how much more severely they’ll chew out Woo Kwang on other news stations. I’ll just watch this and leave.’

[How many times is that the case! Are you going to watch the news all day? My daily soap opera!]

The Grim Reaper howled, hugging the latest CRT television with his whole body.

[You can’t watch the broadcasts you missed! If you do your job well, you’ll get the channel rights!]

It was the television I bought at Taesung Department Store.

‘I wonder what happened to those who were dragged to the serving room torture room.’

[What? You want me to go there now? When are you going to watch my daily drama! I don’t want to! I won’t go! I can’t go!]

The grim reaper shook his head, his arms folded and his face still stiff.

Life is all about the carrot and the stick!

I pointed to the latest version of the Philips VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) that I had bought along with my television.

‘This is a machine that can record and play back soap operas.’

[Recording? Playback? What is that?]

‘What do you mean? Not only can I watch old dramas again, I can watch them again and again!’

[Ooooooh!]

‘deep waters?’

[I want it!]

‘Then let’s go! To the serving water torture room!]

[Go!]

The grim reaper ran, snorting.

* * *

The place the grim reaper showed me was a gloomy basement where the incandescent light bulbs hanging from the ceiling creaked and swayed.

This is the serving water torture room.

Chomp!

In Bulkwang-dong, gasoline and a thug were tied together and soaked to the bone.

One of the trembling goons couldn’t hold it in any longer and screamed.

“I didn’t set the fire to kill people from the beginning! It’s real!”

“We just secretly sprinkled a lot of oil on it!”

I almost let out a gasp because it was the future I had glimpsed when I touched the gasoline in Bulkwang-dong before.

“If it were any other time, the building would have been burnt down a little, and people would have been scared and given their money without any hesitation!”

“I had to save up extra money by purchasing fire insurance. That’s what I had to do!”

“Shut up, you little shits!”

The gasoline in Bulkwang-dong was evil, but the gangsters were trembling in fear.

“I just did what you told me to do! Please trust me!”

“It was just bad luck. We were surprised too, you know?”

“You idiots! Do you really want to get screwed?”

“I’m about to burst right now!”

“I’d rather go to jail! I’m going to die like this!”

Mr. Cheolgu clapped his hands.

“Okay. I’ll keep my promise to show leniency to those who cooperate with the investigation. Take the rest of them to the interrogation room.”

“yes!”

The Public Security Bureau’s Central Intelligence Agency agents took the two thugs away.

In the serving room, only Mr. Cheol-gu and Bulkwang-dong Gasoline were left.

“What are you going to do by denying it so much when you even have a handwritten statement?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t write it down!”

“Just blow it cool. That way you can at least get a reduced sentence. Are you just going to suffer alone like this?”

Bulkwang-dong Gasoline stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

“Now that you’ve come this far, there’s no duty to keep. Why do you keep your mouth shut? I don’t understand.”

“Even if I don’t keep my promise, I have to protect my life.”

Bulkwang-dong Gasoline chuckled, throwing away even the polite language.


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“Then do you think I did something without any trust? You can’t handle it. You’re a big shot.”

“Woo-kwang?”

“······!”

Mr. Cheol-gu started to spread out newspapers on the interrogation table while smiling.

“What should I do? Your backside seems to be Xed now.”

“This, this······ Huh, how could this······! This can’t be happening?”

“You didn’t notice because you were stuck here? Look carefully.”

Mr. Cheolgu read the newspaper headlines one by one in a friendly manner.

Every time that happened, Bulkwang-dong Gasoline’s complexion turned dark and dead.

“What the hell!”

“If things get this big, they’ll have to cut off their tails if they want to survive.”

Mr. Cheolgu pretended to cut his throat with the edge of his hand.

“I guess we can conclude that you set the fire alone. What about you? If you do well, you could get life imprisonment or even murder. What do you think?”

“Please, save me!”

Only then did Bulkwang-dong Gasoline tremble and pray.

“Please, just spare my life! I don’t want to die like this!”

“This is a case that the Blue House is watching closely. You can’t just get away with it. If you want to survive, you have to tell everything you know.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know! So please be lenient and······.”

At that moment, the door to the serving room’s torture room opened wide.

“Park Cheol-gu, stop there.”

The senior agent who tortured Mr. Cheol-gu, and the guy who climbed over the wall of our house and got beaten up!

The West Gate.

“It is the order of the Inspector General. Arrest Park Cheol-gu.”

Agents from the Inspector General’s Office rushed into the water torture room.

They quickly caught Mr. Cheolgu.

“Why are you doing this?”

“It was originally the work of the Inspector General. Then I thought there would be no complaints about the handover.”

“I caught them! The evidence, the victim’s statement, the suspect’s statement… everything!”

“Park Cheol-gu, is this a spy case? No, it’s not. It’s an arson case involving a company. In other words, it’s the work of the Inspector General!”

“senior!”

“We’ll take care of this ourselves, so don’t worry about it, Public Security Bureau.”

The West Gate official gathered a few crumpled documents into his bosom.

It was a statement that the thugs were writing in the interrogation room next door.

“Are you trying to intercept the ball now?”

“Public? Hey, Park Cheol-gu. You also have ambitions for success, don’t you? But this is something you can’t handle with your wits. Don’t dream big and get out of the way.”

Seomun Merci personally untied the gasoline from Bulkwang-dong that was tied to the chair.

“Prepare the electric chair. All three of you.”

The inspector general’s agents grabbed the gasoline truck in Bulkwang-dong and dragged it away.

“Have you ever heard of a saying that makes you confess to a crime you didn’t commit? If I were to make a whole chicken on an electric grill, I’d cook it amazingly. You can probably look forward to it.”

“Please save me!”

The gasoline in Bulkwang-dong screamed.

“I will tell you everything! I promise to answer any questions you ask me honestly!”

“Take that kid. He’ll come to his senses after he tastes the electric thrill.”

Mr. Cheolgu shouted.

“Senior, this guy is already soaking wet! If he gets an electric shock in this condition, he could die!”

“Hey, Park Cheol-gu. Why do you keep trying to teach me? You arrogant brat who doesn’t know what’s up or down. Tsk.”

It was when Seomun Mercigi was leisurely leaving the drinking water torture room with the gasoline from Bulkwang-dong.

“Seriously, you’re also involved in this?”

“Are you trying to frame me now?”

“senior!”

“Don’t be so stubborn. If you keep doing that, you’ll end up in that bucket again.”

“Are you threatening me now?”

“So that’s why you’re still out there, running around? Where did that kid come from, who doesn’t even know X and doesn’t even know the subject?”

bang!

Just then, a man in a suit kicked the door to the water torture room.

He had a cigarette in his mouth.

“Who is that kid who doesn’t even know X and doesn’t know the topic?”

“Hey, Chief of Public Security!”

“Am I your friend? Don’t you turn down the decibels? You cheeky brat who doesn’t know what’s up or down.”

He flicked his fingers and the cigarette in his mouth.

“Hey, Inspector General. Let Park Cheol-gu go.”

The West Gate Merci and the Inspector General’s agents glanced at each other with embarrassed expressions.

That made the police chief angry.

“You bastards of the Inspectorate, can’t you hear what I’m saying? Why are you holding on to our innocent child and making a fuss about him! Why don’t you let him go right now?”

“Chief Public Security, this is the work of the Inspectorate. We are under the orders of the Inspectorate······!”

“So you’re going to ignore what I say? Don’t they teach hierarchy at all in the Inspector General’s Office?”

A man with a gun holster and the sleeves of his long coat flapping open strides toward me.

“Guys, the Chief of Public Security said so. Let’s put Park Cheol-gu aside and step back.”

“Chief Inspector!”

“You want to write a report? You’ll hear me say that you’re talking back to the director, you brats.”

“That, that······.”

The agents of the Inspector General’s Office who had been holding Mr. Cheol-gu quickly moved away.

The police chief flicked his fingers and flicked the cigarette he was holding.

“What are you doing standing there? We need to bring back the suspects that the Inspector General’s agents took away.”

“yes!”

“Trying to steal someone else’s food? You have no conscience.”

Seo Moon-cheol approached the Director of the Inspection Bureau and said.

“Director, this is a guaranteed way to get a job······.”

“Shut up. It’s an order from your superiors. If you want to be rude, then do it. Why are you talking so much?”

The Inspector General glared at the Director of Public Security and gritted his teeth.

“The manager himself is coming down.”

“The manager?”

“The manager told me to support the guy who first asked about this case. So you should also step aside.”

As the inspector general turned and left, Seo Moon-cheol followed him, biting his lip.

Soon, the police officers brought the gasoline and gangsters back to Bulkwang-dong.

Only then did the police chief take a deep drag on the cigarette he was holding with satisfaction.

“Cheol-gu, get ready.”

“Yes. What should I prepare and how? Just tell me.”

“Now is the time to shave your beard, get a haircut, and wear a suit.”

“yes?”

Suddenly?

“Oh, I should put on some lotion so it doesn’t look flaky and brush my teeth well so they shine.”

“······.”

Mr. Cheolgu couldn’t say anything in response and just blinked his eyes.

The police chief flicked the ash from his cigarette with his fingertips and smiled.

“It’s the director’s order. Cheol-gu, you will hold the microphone and announce the interim investigation results at tomorrow’s press conference.”

“yes?”

Mr. Cheolgu blinked his eyes slowly.

The chief of the police station smiled brightly and tapped Mr. Cheol-gu on the shoulder.

“Our Cheol-gu, he’ll become a star through this.”